


Rebels of Two Worlds

by Doc_Cairo



Category: Persona 5, Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Characters Added As They Appear - Freeform, Gen, Multi, Persona 5 True Ending Spoilers, SU Spoilers - Hypothetical Post "Wanted" Scenario
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-20
Updated: 2017-05-19
Packaged: 2018-11-02 18:35:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10950357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Doc_Cairo/pseuds/Doc_Cairo
Summary: When the Phantom Thieves are enlisted to tackle another threat to humanity, they didn't expect that threat to be... aliens. And due to a misunderstanding with a local car wash owner, they've run afoul of another group of rebels...Continuity assumes Steven & Lars make it back from Homeworld after "Wanted". Set after the Persona 5 true ending.





	Rebels of Two Worlds

“Well… that’s different.”

Greg mused as he watched the pale blue van pull up in front of the car wash. It didn’t look all that different on the outside… but through the windows he could see the driver's seat on the right hand side. The japanese lettering on the license plate also stood out, but he could barely see it behind the black grit and mud that coated the van’s underbelly and sides. It looked like someone had taken the van mudding… through a garbage dump.

The van slowed to a stop on the road and it’s side doors opened up, spilling out half its passengers. Four teenagers, three boys and a girl  Foreign… Japanese? Greg didn’t want to assume. They stretched and milled about while the driver, a brown haired girl, did a three-point-turn to bring the van through the wash. There were two other girls in the cabin with her. Greg set his guitar in the open back of his van and went to greet them.

“Man, it’s so nice here.” The blonde boy stared out at the ocean. “Feel that breeze…”

“I could see this being a popular vacation spot.” The slightly taller, blue haired boy said. “For such a beautiful beach there is relatively little human development to spoil it.” He made a frame with his fingers. “If only we could stop here long enough to paint this.”

“We can.” The girl with orange hair interjected, balancing an open laptop on one arm and typing one handed with the other. “The portal spat us out nice and close. This is the target.”

“The target is a car wash?” The blue haired boy said incredulously.

“No, the town.” She snapped back. “Why would it be a car wash? Besides, does that guy look like he could possibly be evil to you?” She gestured at the balding, sunburned man approaching them.

“Uh…” A black haired boy tried to interject, but was cut off.

“You know how well mankind hides its treachery. For all we know, that man could be a murderer.” The blue haired boy shot back. “If this town is so distorted, we shouldn’t feel safe trusting anyone here.”

“Yusuke…” The black haired boy stopped him. “He can hear you.” He pointed at Greg, who was now only a few feet away… and feeling ignored.

“Sure, but does he speak Japanese? I feel confident in not being overheard.”

“Uh… then why are you speaking English?” Greg asked him. The blue haired boy turned and stared at him in surprise. The black haired boy facepalmed.

“Lavenza turned on universal translation, remember?” He said.

“Oh.” He looked remorseful for a moment, before bowing to Greg slightly. “My apologies sir. I didn’t mean to impugn your character.”

“Look… I don’t really get what’s going on here…” Greg told them. He had overheard some… suspicious things… about a portal and a target. “You’re all from out of town I assume?”

“Yeah.” The black haired boy spoke. “We’re traveling cross-country.”

“Ok… so how’d your van get so messed up?”

“We uh… got lost.” The blonde boy gave an excuse. “Drove through some rough patches.”

“Yeah, now you know what it was like for me to drive around Mementos.” Greg heard another voice, but didn’t see who could have spoken. He glanced down to see a black cat with bright blue eyes sitting near the girl with the orange hair. The blonde boy glowered at it… but Greg could tell he was trying not to let him see that.

“Um… well the car wash is ten bucks…”

“Would you accept yen if it’s worth more than that? You could get it exchanged.” The black haired boy reached into his back pocket, offering him a bill with 10,000 on it. Greg didn’t know any exchange rates off the top of his head, but he was sure that was well over $10.

“Actually… it’s on the house.” Greg turned it down. “You’re guests in our country. Just pay if forward sometime.”

“Oh wow… thanks!” The blonde boy sounded genuinely surprised and smiled wide.

“That’s very kind of you, thank you.” The black haired boy held a hand out for Greg to shake. Greg accepted it, and as the handshake broke off he heard the voice again, the one he couldn’t place to a person.

“Just goes to show you, there’s nice people everywhere.” Greg found the source of the voice.

It was the cat.

“Oh crap… you’re a gem aren’t you?” Greg frowned. A talking cat… like Amethyst would sometimes disguise herself as. They had arrived through some kind of portal they had mentioned. And the town was their “target”.

“Wait.. you heard that?” The cat’s eyes widened.

“Yes.”

“That’s not normal.” The orange haired girl set her laptop down.

“To hear him, he must have been to the metaverse. Perhaps he is part of whatever is going on here.” The blue haired boy said. Before Greg could say anything in his own defense, the black haired boy had reached into his jacket and drew out a pistol, aiming it at him.

“Let’s step inside and talk.” He said. The rest of them had closed a circle around him.

“Wait… wait! I don’t want any trouble! What do you want?” Greg was gradually backed in towards his business.

“If you can hear me, that means you’ve been to the Metaverse.” The cat spoke on their behalf. “Which means you know something about what’s going on here. So talk.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about! I’ve been to space yeah, but I don’t know what this meta whatever is!”

“I think he’s lying.” The blonde sounded cocky. “What do you think, Joker?” The black haired boy with the gun frowned.

“Tell us what you know-” Started the blue haired boy. “-and no harm will come to-”

He didn’t finish his sentence. Because Lion jumped down from the car wash roof between Greg and his attackers, roaring defensively. Greg knew Steven always told Lion to watch out for him while he was away… but he never thought Lion actually understood that. Then again, this was the first time Greg had actually been in danger under Lion’s watch. Greg expected to hear Lion get shot at, but the teens all retreated rapidly, forming a wide circle.

“Holy shit… is that his Persona?!” The blonde yelled.

“Guys, my form changed!” The cat’s voice yelled, and Greg could see past Lion that it was now standing on two legs… it’s head over-sized like a cartoon character and wearing a yellow bandanna around it’s neck.

“How is that possible?” The blue haired boy asked.

“The barrier between reality and the metaverse has got be really thin here… that’s why he’s able to use persona!” The cat yelled back.

“Does that mean we can too?” The blonde demanded to know as he warily eyed Lion. In response, the black haired boy stretched his arms to his sides, and was engulfed for a brief moment in blue light, emerging in a longer black coat, formal clothes beneath, and a white mask on his face. Lion snarled at the boy in black… who now smiled with confidence.

“Ravage them… ARSENE!” He ripped the mask away from his face.

* * *

_**Earlier...**_  


“This place exists between dreams and reality, mind and matter.”

Akira hadn’t expected to see this place again… ever. Or at least not anytime soon.

“Welcome to the Velvet Room.” The hook nosed man sitting in the center of the room said. Next to him, the short white-haired girl in a blue dress smiled at him.

“My apologies.” She said. “You already know that, but my master is very insistent on protocol, and as he was not able to greet you properly during your first visit…”

“So is this just gonna be a thing now?” Akira stepped through the empty cell door towards the pair. “Dream visits to chat?”

“I would be quite pleased if that were the case.” Lavenza’s smile faded. “But my master has called you here today for a more serious matter.” She went silent while watching Igor from the corner of her eye.

“As I said before… you were truly a remarkable guest.” Igor rested his hands on the table before him. “Your destiny has concluded, and you have won humanity the right to make its own choices.” Igor smiled gently. “However, this does not mean an immediate end to strife and injustice. There will always be evil. Wrongs to be righted. People to be saved. And given the prize you have won, it is appropriate that you also now have a choice.”

“And what’s that?” Akira asked directly.

“Do you truly wish for the Phantom Thieves to retire? Or do you desire the opportunity to continue as a force for good?” Igor asked.

“The cognitive world within Japan may have collapsed…” Lavenza explained. “But it continues to exist in other parts of the world… where the impostor may regain a foothold on this world. And beyond that… I sense another threat to this world… one that evades even my perception.” She sounded genuinely worried.

“I do not wish to impose upon you. You have already done so much. If you decline, we will find another to answer the call.” Igor assured. “The choice falls to you.”

“Respectfully,” Akira said after a moment's hesitation. “It’s not my choice. It’s ALL our choice.”

“Very well. Return and confer with your allies.” Lavenza said. “Once you have reached a conclusion, I will contact you.”

“If you elect to pursue this, we will once again be at your disposal.” Igor bowed his head. “Until we meet again…"

Akira awoke leaning on Futaba, who was also asleep in the middle seat of the van as it drove slowly down the rural road. Behind him he could hear Ryuji playing a video off his phone and the furious scratching of pencil on paper. Akira shifted upright.

“Be still! Back as you were!” Yusuke said firmly from the backseat.

“He’s been drawing you two.” Haru said from next to him. The black cat sitting in her lap purred as she stroked him. Akira hesitantly leaned back into place, just enough to jostle Futaba awake.

“Everyone, I have something to discuss with you.”

“What is it?” Makoto asked from the driver’s seat.

“I just had a talk with Igor and Lavenza.” Akira told them. There was a stunned silence, and even Yusuke’s pencil stopped.

“Really?” The cat questioned. Akira nodded.

“Apparently, there’s some other things going on. He wants to know if we want to keep the Phantom Thieves going.”

“Oh hell yes!” Ryuji pumped his fist in the air. “I’m in… I mean… if you all are.”

“But I thought the metaverse was gone.” Ann said.

“In Japan, yeah.” Akira told them. “But apparently it’s still thriving in other countries. Their worried Yaldabaoth might try something again.”

“So it’s not even a question of continuing…” Futaba crossed her arms. “Our original job isn’t done!”

“I suppose it was foolish to assume he was gone for good.” Yusuke admitted.

“But… what are we to do then?” Haru asked. “It seems infeasible to do what we did before.”

“We can’t just let the final boss walk Noir!” Futaba asserted.

“Well, since you’re already back to code names, I take it you’re vote is yes.” Makoto grinned.

“There’s also something else going on he wants us to investigate.” Akira informed them. “He was kinda vague about it.”

“Is that guy ever not vague?” Ryuji asked.

“Hey, he has a certain way of doing things, but he’s a force for good.” Morganna defended his creator. “I say we look into it.”

“YES!” Ryuji exclaimed. “Phantom Thieves roadtrip!”

“Any objections?” Akira asked everyone. No one spoke back. “Then it’s unanimous.” Akira’s phone rang. Unknown number. He answered it.

“Good to have you back.” Lavenza’s voice spoke into his ear. “Facilitating your travel to the United States now. Please place me on speaker, I’ll explain everything while you are in transit.”

“What do you mean facilitate our…” Akira tried to ask, but stopped when he realized the question had become redundant. The van was no longer driving along the rural highway. It was as if they were in a dark and murky tunnel and the concrete of the road gave way to a black tar with the consistency of mud. There was a blue light at the far end of this tunnel.

“Folding time and space can be a bit messy.” Lavenza said over speaker. “I apologize for any damage to your vehicle. Now then… your first target…”

* * *

Lion’s feet dug deep into the grass as he was knocked away by the floating red and black specter that the black haired boy had summoned. He roared a blast of energy at the two boys who were now attempting to abduct his charge’s father, causing them to briefly retreat and Greg to run to his side. The black wings of the specter flapped as it dropped to the ground for a moment, and black and red energy emerged from the ground beneath Lion, who jumped away from the shockwave and lunged at his attacker. The lunge was intercepted by another humanoid shape, this one blue with large wings on it’s feet, which pushed Lion away with a gust of wind, and kicked up a large cloud of dirt and dust all around them.

“STOP!” Greg yelled at all of them. “I don’t know what’s going on, but everyone just stop taking swings at each other and let’s talk about this!”

“Call off your Persona old man, and we’ll think about it!” The blonde pointed and yelled, now wearing a black mask in the shape of a skull over the upper half of his face, and wielding what appeared to be a metal baseball bat.

“The hell are you… old man?!” Greg said indignantly. “I’m only… wait… where’d the other one…” Greg noticed the blue haired boy was missing. The missing boy, now wearing a white fox mask and carrying a sword emerged from the dust cloud, charging at Greg. Greg grimaced in anticipation as the blade was swung at him.

The pain didn’t come, but rather the sound of metal hitting metal. Or rather… pink energy with the consistency of metal. A very familiar transparent shield was embedded in the ground between Greg and the boy with the sword.

Oh thank goodness.

He smiled as he saw his son and the Crystal Gems drop in from the sky around him, weapons drawn.

**Author's Note:**

> I started this mainly to break my writer's block, but now I've got some interesting ideas with it. This will likely mainly be a fall back project for when I'm stumped on my other work, but if there's a lot of interest I'll consider bumping it up. Persona and SU is kinda a weird combination... but there are such possibilities.
> 
> Oh, and don't expect this to be grim and gritty all the time. Once the misunderstanding is settled, things might actually get pretty fun...


End file.
